I recently was helping a client that needed to activate over 50+ servers after an OS upgrade. I did not want to do this one by one and they did not have a KMS. PowerShell to the rescue. I was able to put together a script that loops through an OU in Active Directory and activate all computers in that OU. This script will find only computers with “Windows Server” in the name. This script could be modified to find client operating systems instead.
When you run this script it will prompt you for the domain name, organizational unit, and Windows Server product key. I was able to use this in my new lab build as well. Here is the script:
<#
Name: ActivateWinComputersfrAD.ps1
Author: System Center MVP – Steve Buchanan
Date: 2/15/2015
Version: 1.0
Website: www.buchatech.com
Description:
This script can be used to loop through an OU in Active Directory and activate all computers in that OU.
This script will find only computers with “Windows Server” in the name.
Run this script using: powershell.exe -executionpolicy unrestricted -command .\ActivateWinComputersfrAD.ps1
#>
# Load the Active Directory PowerShell module
Import-Module -Name ActiveDirectory
# Prompt script runner for information to create variables
$domain = Read-host ‘Enter domain to be used. Format as such (DOMAINNAME)’
$computersou = Read-host ‘Enter the name of the OU to be searched.’
$Productkey = Read-host ‘Enter product key. Format as such (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX)’
# Create a variable that holds all of the computers from Active Directory
$results = (Get-ADComputer -LDAPFilter “(OperatingSystem=*Windows Server*)” -SearchBase “OU=$computersou,DC=$domain,DC=com”)
# Loop through the results variable and activate all computers in that variable.
# NOTE: Dont forget to replace the $key variable with your own Windows key.
foreach ($i in $results)
{
$computer = gc env:computername
$service = get-wmiObject -query “select * from SoftwareLicensingService” -computername $i.Name
$service.InstallProductKey($Productkey)
$service.RefreshLicenseStatus()
}
Write-Host “The following servers have been activated:” -ForegroundColor Green
$results | Format-Table DNSHostName -HideTableHeaders
Pause
It can be downloaded here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Windows-Server-Activation-f1c534b6
